Hi y'all. I'm new to the forum. I have a seven month old German Shorthaired Pointer, Annabelle. She has been retrieving dummies since she was 3 months old. Now we fetch with a canvas dummy with duck wings sewed on. She will stay and wait for the fetch command. She has successfully made water retrievals, but will NOT fetch a duck if it falls on land. I do not understand this at all! Any one have a similar experience or any advice??? I am stumped on what to do. Thanks,Andrea

hello how are you today? the advice and reccomendations i will give you is not right to all people but it is my opinion. It is easier to build a dog up than break it down. with your pup still being exactly that, a pup, i would back off the sit stay and let her chase. tease her up with it and then throw it. make it fun again. don't worry about all the obedience until she is chasing and enjoying it. some trainers don't believe in letting a pup chase a bird and they hold them accountable to stand it from the beginning. Don"t get me wrong, I believe all the obedience is important but the prey drive and desire in some dogs need to be created. Every dog is different and not all rules are universal. Also live birds are different and the movement, scent and naturally abilities of your gsp will probably take over when you start getting her into them. find an AKC or NAVHDA club around you and try to get her introduce to clip wings as well as homers. These clubs are invaluable to creating a bird dog. Birds do make the bird dog. Not that it is right for everyone but it will advance your pup faster than just a regular hunting season. some people might try to recommend a force fetch and i would say wait on that. it is a lot of pressure and may not be neccesary for what your trying to achieve. another option is to get another dog that retrieves well and hold yours and make her watch. don't make her sit or yell at her for pulling during this, you are trying to get her pumed up. also feathers are not a natural feel in a dogs mouth and maybe take them off until she likes just the dummy. If it is hot and the pup is panting many times they don't like the feeling. it dries their mouth out more. most of all in my opinion build her up, let her have fun and it very very easy to get in a race to have the best dog right now. I call it the american away. we want what we want and we want it now.( i read that not an original) I love gsp's and most of them will hunt like a champion and all you need is come when called the first bird season. I hunt wild pheasant in south dakota from opening day till close and that is all i hold mine accountable for the first year. Also you want your pup to be successful as much as possible or those unsuccessful habits can be formed so don't make it to hard. I hope my essay helps